Chelsea Clinton announces pregnancy

In a joint appearance, Chelsea and Hillary Clinton announced Thursday that Chelsea is expecting her first child later this year.

Speaking at a No Ceilings event, sponsored by the Clinton Foundation and Microsoft, the Clintons addressed women’s issues with moderator and actress America Ferrera at the Lower Eastside Girls Club in New York City. At the end of the event, Chelsea Clinton expressed how inspiring she found the audience of women — for multiple reasons.

Text Size

-

+

reset

Clintons talk being grandparents

“Marc [Mezvinsky] and I are very excited that we have our first child arriving later this year, and I certainly feel all the better — whether it’s a girl or a boy — that she or he will grow up in a world full of so many strong young female leaders, so thank you for inspiring me and thank you for inspiring future generations, including the one that we’ll be lucky enough to welcome into our family later this year,” Chelsea Clinton said. “I just hope that I will be as good a mom to my child, and hopefully children, as my mom was to me.”

“Girls: A No Ceilings Conversation” was livestreamed and brought four schools from around the country in via Skype as well as questions from viewers worldwide. The conversation touched on everything from human trafficking, to girls in STEM education, to immigration reform.

The former secretary of state beamed as her daughter announced the news of her grandchild, “which I’m really excited about,” she said.

Connecting the news to the topic of the day, Hillary Clinton said it made the efforts of No Ceilings more pressing.

“It makes this work even more important,” Clinton said. “Even in the course of my life, I’ve seen a lot of progress, but I want to see us keep moving, and certainly for future generations as well, so that maybe our grandchild will not have to be worried about some of the things that young women and young men worry about today. So obviously, we are very excited about what’s happening in our family, but we’re also very excited because of what we’re doing that we hope gives confidence and support to so many of you across our country.”

The news was not entirely unexpected, as Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have made no secret of their hope that their daughter would make them grandparents soon. Chelsea said in an interview last October that she and her husband planned to make 2014 “the year of the baby.”

Others have noted that Hillary Clinton has seemed more cheerful and relaxed in recent appearances, fueling theories that there was good news in her life.

With continued speculation around the former first lady’s plans for the 2016 presidential race, where she is the presumed frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, some have wondered whether a grandchild might make Clinton less likely to enter the fray.